During weeks holed up in her grandmother’s apartment with 10 relatives and eating a restricted diet, Chinese teenager Li Yuxuan says tempers have frayed.Li and her family are among the millions of people across China’s Hubei province, epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, who are subject to official orders to stay at home amid attempts to contain the spread of the disease.Officials and volunteers have sealed off buildings, erected barricades and stepped up surveillance to ensure compliance with the ban on movement, measures that are taking a toll on many in the community.“Every day there’s fighting. Every day we sigh. Every day I’m scolded,” Li, 19, told Reuters by WeChat from the apartment in Ezhou, a city near the provincial capital of Wuhan.Provided food is pictured at quarantine location upon arrival from Wuhan in the town of Novi Sanzhary, Ukraine, Feb. 20, 2020.Monotonous dietLi said the family had eaten the same combination of white rice, cabbage and peanuts for three weeks, since gathering to celebrate the Lunar New Year last month, stinting on portions because of limits on the numbers of people from each household allowed out to shop.Cities and villages across China have taken measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 76,000 people in the country, killing 2,345, but the protocols in Hubei are the most extreme.The province, which is home to 60 million people, announced a “sealed management” policy a week ago that effectively prevents residents from leaving their homes, further isolating a population that has been living under a transport lockdown since late January.“We bought vegetables today, but I don’t know when we will go out again,” Li said by WeChat Friday, adding the family could now only buy food at the gate of their compound.Officials have promised to ensure sufficient food and medicine for residents and have also warned against hoarding or price-gouging.“Sealed management will continue so that no one will go outside, but they must still be able to buy their daily necessities,” Wuhan’s newly appointed Communist Party chief, Wang Zhonglin, said last Sunday.FILE – Workers in protective suits are seen at a checkpoint for registration and body temperature measurement, at an entrance to a residential compound in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Feb. 13, 2020.Community enforcementHubei’s sealed management policy depends heavily on residential committees, a network of volunteers who carry out government and Communist Party orders at the grassroots level in coordination with private employees of residential compounds.One day last week, before her compound in Jingzhou city was completely sealed, 31-year-old Vicky Yi said she was stopped at the gate by a volunteer when she tried to go out for groceries.FILE – Construction workers building a temporary hospital receive meat and vegetables delivered by Wuhan resident Chen Hui and another volunteer in Ezhou, Hubei province, China, Feb. 11, 2020.Minutes later, an elderly woman walked past and out of the compound. Yi argued with the volunteer to let her out. He eventually yielded.“These people in the compound, when they get even a little bit of power, they will use all their energy to try to get in your way,” she said.“It’s like the Stanford prison experiment,” she added, referring to the 1971 psychology experiment to investigate perceptions of power that assigned a group of the university’s students to be either prisoners or guards.The Jingzhou government could not be reached by Reuters for comment.Online videos have shown police and volunteers using force to penalize residents for even gathering in groups. In one that went viral, and which caught the attention of the official People’s Daily, volunteers flipped over a table where a family was playing mah-jong, and hit one of the players.“There are some things, no matter how pressing the epidemic is, that should not be done,” the People’s Daily noted on social media of the incident, and the Xiaogang city government issued an apology.Public health concernsNon-residents are also caught in the Hubei net, with many who were in the province to visit relatives over Lunar New Year now stuck far from their homes and livelihoods.“The rent, the water bill, the electricity bill, I still have to pay them,” said 28-year-old Cao Dezhao, who owns a small IT business in Jinan, in eastern Shandong province, but is stuck in Wuhan after he came to visit his in-laws. “I could be bankrupt at the end of this epidemic.”Experts say that essential needs, including monitoring of mental health, should be ensured for people under quarantine or containment measures.“You have to address the basic rights and well-being of people: Can they get their food and water? What is their mental health status?” said Rebecca Katz, director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University.Hundreds of official 24-hour telephone hotlines for psychological support have been launched since the beginning of the outbreak, but many are overwhelmed.Wuhan, the Hubei city hardest hit in the epidemic, says it will ensure food and other necessities through group orders as supermarkets stopped selling to individuals. Some communities have arranged for vendors to come to their compound gates.Hubei has said drugs and other necessities must be delivered to residents.But Song Chunlin, whose daughter has psoriasis, a painful chronic skin condition, said she has been unable to receive delivery of the medication her daughter needs in the village where her parents live in Yichang, in western Hubei, while she herself has not been able to receive her allergy medication.The Yichang government did not respond to an emailed request for comment.“I’m really in a difficult situation,” Song told Reuters.
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The coronavirus continued to spread rapidly in South Korea on Saturday, with the country reporting its largest single-day spike in confirmed infections since the outbreak began.The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 229 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of South Korean infections to 433.That is a drastic increase from four days ago, when there were only 31 confirmed infections. South Korea now has the highest number of cases outside of China and a cruise ship off the coast of Japan.Authorities are vowing more effective containment efforts, even as protesters in Seoul on Saturday defied a local government ban on large rallies.Wearing masks and chanting anti-government slogans, hundreds of mostly older conservative protesters packed tightly into a square in Seoul’s central Gwanghwamun district, where feisty protests are held nearly every weekend.Medical workers wearing protective gear carry a patient infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at a hospital in Chuncheon, Feb. 22, 2020.Confusing messages
Police warned protesters they could be fined up to $2500 for violating the ban, but made no attempts to disperse the crowd. At one point, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon pleaded with protesters to go home, saying they posed a risk to public safety.”It can not only hurt you, but also impact the safety and health of your neighbors,” Park said, according to the Yonhap news agency.But some of the protesters told VOA they believed the virus could not spread among crowds, as long as they were gathered outside — an incorrect notion that may have stemmed from comments by a protest leader, as reported by CNN.Against the city government’s order, the Christian opposition group is going ahead with their weekend rally. The leader told the congregation, “I spoke to a doctor. His case study shows that you can’t catch virus outside.” FILE – A man wearing a mask to prevent contracting the coronavirus walks past a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony in Daegu, South Korea, Feb. 21, 2020.China still epicenter
The highly contagious virus, which causes a pneumonia-like respiratory illness known as COVID-19, has killed more than 2,300 people and infected more than 75,000 worldwide. Nearly all of the infections have been in China, where the virus originated.So far, only two coronavirus patients have died in South Korea. But with the number of virus cases having nearly doubled for four consecutive days, many fear the worst is yet to come.Most of the South Korean infections have been in the southeastern city of Daegu and the nearby county of Cheongdo.In Seoul, which has seen a smaller surge of new infections, virtually all commuters on public buses and trains wore masks and exchanged nervous glances if someone sneezed or coughed.Police officers wearing face masks stand guard during a rally in downtown Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 22, 2020. South Korea on Saturday reported a six-fold jump in viral infections in four days to 433.”It looks like a scene from a disaster movie,” said Choi In-woo, a 20-year-old freshman university student in the Gwanghwamun neighborhood of the Jongno district, which reported the most new cases in the capital this week.”I’m really scared if it lasts longer,” said Choi, whose university has canceled orientation for the spring semester.
Many conservative forces have called on the government to further tighten restrictions on the entry people from China. An editorial this week in the conservative Chosun Ilbo compared the government’s efforts to trying to “catch flies with the windows wide open.”There are concerns that fears of the virus are becoming entangled with anti-China sentiment. Some restaurant owners in Seoul placed “no Chinese” or “no foreigners” signs outside their businesses. A delivery drivers’ union requested its members not be required to take food to neighborhoods with large Chinese populations. And a petition with over 700,000 signatures is calling for the government to ban entry to Chinese nationals.But authorities say the virus has now begun spreading locally among people with no links to China.This handout picture taken Feb. 19, 2020, by Daegu Metropolitan City Namgu shows workers in protective suits spraying disinfectant in front of the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the southeastern city of Daegu, South Korea.Religious groupMore than half of the infections are linked to a fringe religious congregation in the southeastern city of Daegu, where a 61-year-old woman who tested positive for the virus had worshiped.The Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony was founded in 1984 by Lee Man-hee, who is revered by his followers as a messiah. The group claims to have approximately 200,000 followers in South Korea.The Yonhap news agency reported that the virus may have spread more easily at the religious gatherings, since its adherents sit close together on the floor and often place their hands on one another.Lee, the leader of the group, has said the virus is the “work of the devil.” He has also temporarily closed all his churches, saying members should instead watch services on YouTube.Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
 
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Australia hopes visa changes will encourage foreign backpackers to join the mammoth bushfire recovery effort. The working vacationers would be allowed to stay longer under new rules if they help in disaster-hit areas.The scale of Australia’s recovery from the bushfire crisis is immense. Since July, almost 16 million hectares of land have been scorched. Lives and livelihoods have been lost, along with thousands of homes.The government says overseas backpackers will be crucial in helping to rebuild homes, roads and farms, as well as helping with demolition, land clearing and repairing railways.Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge says young foreign travelers have a big part to play in the recovery effort.“There is so much work to do,” Tudge said. “We need all hands on deck and that includes the international backpackers who we know want to make their contribution as well.”FILE – A bushfire burns in Bodalla, New South Wales, Jan. 25, 2020. Wildfires destroyed more than 3,000 homes and razed more than 10.6 million hectares (26 million acres) since September.Temporary visa changes will make it easier for working vacationers to stay longer in Australia if they work or volunteer in a disaster area. The measures have gone down well.“I think it is wonderful because Australia needs this thing to reforest all the bushfires,” one backpacker said.“I am thrilled,” a woman added. “I think it is a great idea. I just wished it would have happened sooner whether it is planting trees, helping the animals, something like that.”Australia’s working holiday visa program gives young people between the ages of 18 and 30 the chance to take up short-term employment for up to three years.The scheme is popular with travelers from many countries, including Britain, Taiwan, Germany, South Korea and France.
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Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Friday ordered the dissolution of the country’s most vocal pro-democracy party, the Future Forward Party, after determining it took an illegal loan, an action expected to strengthen the hand of the pro-military government at the opposition’s expense.The court also banned 16 of the Future Forward Party’s top executives, most of them serving lawmakers, from politics for the next 10 years.The party has denied any wrongdoing and decried the case as politically motivated.ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, a group of former and serving lawmakers from across Southeast Asia, urged Thai authorities to end what it called the harassment of the country’s pro-democracy parties and activists.”The Future Forward Party is the latest in a long line of opposition political parties in Thailand to be banned. It is increasingly apparent that any party which seeks to threaten the military and the establishment’s political hegemony will not be tolerated,” Francisca Castro, a member and lawmaker from the Philippines, said in a statement.Supporters give presents to Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit as he arrives to give a speech, at the party’s headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 21, 2020.Future Forward has been in the cross-hairs of Thailand’s politically powerful military since a 2019 general election campaign that saw the novice party slamming the junta that took power in a bloodless coup five years earlier. Coupled with a progressive platform and a charismatic, young leader in auto-parts billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the party came out of the poll a strong third.But with the help of a senate handpicked by the junta, a formula for allocating lower house seats favorably adjusted by a junta-appointed election commission, and promised cabinet posts for allies, the military’s proxy party, Palang Pracharath, managed to cobble together a majority coalition that chose the prime minister, junta leader Prayut Chan-ocha.FILE – Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha gestures while speaking to media members at the Government House in Bangkok, June 6, 2019.Future Forward has been the sharpest thorn in his government’s side ever since, pushing for a popularly elected senate, an end to military conscription and a cut in defense spending. It rallied the opposition bloc to push for an investigation of the military’s many diktats during the junta years and alone opposed — unsuccessfully — the transfer of two army units to the direct command of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who has backed Prayut’s rule.The effort earned Future Forward and its leaders more than 20 lawsuits, including one that forced Thanathorn out of his elected seat for owning shares in a media company while campaigning, an allegation he denies.It also earned the party an especially strong following among young voters weary of Thailand’s cycle of coups — two since 2006, 13 since becoming a constitutional monarchy in 1932.Its court-ordered demise spells more trouble for the country’s already-turbulent politics, said Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S.-based research group.”I think there will be significant anger among younger people, who are getting increasingly furious not only with the political stasis, and with their voices not being heard, but with the poor economy for them,” he said.”Thai youths are getting bolder in standing up to the military, the monarchy, and the system generally. This combination of sclerotic politics and empowered young people does not bode well for the future of Thai politics.”By banning Future Forward’s executives from politics for the next decade, Friday’s court order will boost the ruling bloc’s position in the lower house, where it has been clinging to a razor-thin majority since the election.New party?Future Forward says it plans to set up a new party to which its rank-and-file representatives can migrate.The government will be hoping to pick off at least some of them, too, said Prajak Kongkirati, a political science professor at Thailand’s Thammasat University.A supporter of Future Forward Party cries at the party’s headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 21, 2020.”That’s the intention of the government,” he said. “They believe that by dissolving the party, some party members, some MPs who [are] not strongly committed to the party will … abandon the party and join [some] other party on the government side.”But Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst and lecturer at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, said Future Forward’s voters will stay loyal.”I think the Future Forward base is very deep, and it’s broadening. And the fact that Thanathorn is still out and about and he’s still … reaching out to the different bases and broadening his party, I think that the movement behind Future Forward will certainly be sustained. The name may change, but the movement will stay,” he said.The analyst added: “A lot of these younger people, they are sick and tired of the Thai conflict over the last 15 years. And they’ve seen two military coups that have put the same people in power. They have seen several elections that have gone nowhere. So I think a lot of these people are … trying to take back their country.”Anticipating the court’s action, Future Forward drew thousands of supporters to a rally in downtown Bangkok in December to denounce the government. But analysts do not expect an immediate return to the sometimes violent mass protests that have periodically rocked the Thai capital over the past few decades.FILE – Supporters react at a sudden, unauthorized rally by the progressive Future Forward Party in Bangkok, Thailand, Dec. 14, 2019.Kurlantzick said countries doing business in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy were watching developments closely but growing inured to the turmoil.”There is a degree of understanding, especially among foreign companies, that Thailand has had a long period of unrest, and that’s certainly not good, but it’s just become a part of business life in the kingdom. Long term, that’s not going to help investment from Western companies, but it’s sort of being priced in for now,” he said.Thailand has also been a close military ally of America in a part of the world where the U.S. is competing fiercely with China for influence. Though U.S. arms sales to the country tailed off in the wake of the 2014 coup, they have picked up since last year’s election.Kurlantzick does not expect the detente to end just yet.”The White House has generally wanted to push a policy of boosting ties with Thailand, and I think — while Future Forward’s ban might lead to some consternation in Congress and some in the administration — it will not stop arms sales,” he said.Case against Future Forward The case against Future Forward stemmed from a pair of loans Thanathorn had extended to his fledgling party worth a combined $6 million to see it through the election campaign.In its complaint to the court, the Election Commission claimed the loan broke articles of Thailand’s law on political parties that make no mention of loans as a legitimate source of revenue and cap an individual’s donations within 12 months at about $320,000. As a consequence, the commission reasoned, Future Forward also broke another article of the law that bars parties from accepting donations, assets or other benefits from illegitimate sources and which includes dissolution as punishment.Future Forward said the loans were above board and should not count as either a donation or revenue.Advisers to the Election Commission seemed to agree.According to local media, leaked commission records showed that two panels the election body set up to probe the case had recommended dropping it, reasoning that loans are not income.
 
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Scholars in Asia say Vietnam’s move this month to bolster defense ties with Russia will advance the Southeast Asian country’s pursuit of a multi-country foreign policy allowing it to depend on no single outside power.The country that has been challenged by France, the United States and China within the past decade welcomes Russian assistance, Vietnamese state media outlets said after their Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich visited Moscow Feb. 5.  “He therefore highlighted Vietnam’s consistent policy of enhancing the solidarity, friendship and comprehensive strategic cooperation with Russia, which is also the top priority in the foreign policy of the Vietnamese (Communist) Party, state and army,” party website Nhan Dan Online said.That means Russia will keep Vietnam well armed and equipped with oil while acting as a counterweight against other big countries, analysts believe, in exchange for deals and more global military clout. The outcome matches Vietnam’s goal of getting along with all world powers without growing so cozy with any that it cannot stand on its own, they say.”Vietnam has been in a very active process of trying to secure resources from many countries including Russia, including Japan, to demonstrate that it’s not building a singular alliance, but rather it’s trying to diversify its relationships,” said Stephen Nagy, a senior associate professor of politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo.Balancing actVietnam is also exploring closer relations with the United States despite bitter wartime memories going back to the 1960s but not as fast as Washington would like, Nagy said. China, as Vietnam’s communist neighbor, maintains close political ties as well as $100 billion plus in annual trade, but Vietnamese resent China after a border war in 1979 and because Chinese forces today control tracts of the South China Sea that Vietnam also claims.Russia happens to be pushing for better relations around Asia. It’s expected to look for buyers of arms and oil — its two specialties — while staying relevant globally. Sanctions by the U.S. and European Union government after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea have hurt pieces of the Russian economy.”The general sentiment in this region is that Russia is seen as an alternative partner when it comes to the Sino-U.S. rivalry,” said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “So, Russia is one of those other alternative choices that you can turn to if you want to get away from the Sino-U.S. competition.”Vietnam already trusts Russia as a helpful yet non-invasive partner going back more than 50 years. FILE – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich (L) review an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony for Shoigu at the Ministry of Defense in Hanoi, Vietnam, Jan. 23, 2018.The ex-Soviet Union helped Vietnam’s communists win their war against the United States by offering guns, tanks and rocket launchers. The same country paid $1 billion per year from 1978 into the 1980s for post-war reconstruction, news website Rossiyskaya Gazeta says. From 2011 to 2014, Vietnam used Russian technology and know-how to reopen an old base at Cam Ranh Bay as a maintenance center for foreign warships. Counterweight to ChinaRussia aligns with China in world affairs — from skepticism of U.S. foreign policy to approaches toward crises the Middle East. But Russia’s stronger armed forces and its commercial ambitions, especially the search for oil under the South China Sea, put Beijing ill at ease.  China chafes especially when outside powers enter the South China Sea. China calls 90% of the tropical waterway its own despite rival claims by five other Asian governments including Vietnam. China has stepped up control of the waterway since 2010 by using its stronger military and technology.China and Russia don’t usually talk about it, but “the Russia-Vietnam cooperation in the South China Sea and on security issues, it’s a pretty big issue,” said Sun Yun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington.In 2018, Russian oil developer Rosneft started drilling in two South China Sea sites authorized by Vietnam, ruffling China. In April last year, a Russian helicopter contractor started operating a maintenance facility in Vietnam. Vietnam gets at least 85% of its military equipment from Russia now, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor with the University of New South Wales in Australia.”Russia’s been exempted from protocols when they want to make a ship visit to Vietnam,” he said. “All they have to do is notify Vietnam they intend to stop — they don’t need a visa type thing,” Thayer said.More on the wayVietnam’s defense minister signed a joint vision statement in Moscow with Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu. The two sides will step up exchanges of views on issues of mutual concern, the Vietnamese government’s VGP News said.Expect Russia to push for more arms sales and oil exploration contracts going forward, Sun said.  Hanoi as 2020 chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will expand on goodwill cemented this month by integrating Russia more into the region’s broader ambitions, Vietnamese media outlets reported. The bloc focuses heavily on counter-terrorism work and does occasional joint military drills. It’s negotiating with China to reach agreement on a code of conduct that would prevent mishaps in the disputed sea.”Vietnam will … back Russia’s efforts in expanding cooperation with ASEAN, for peace, stability and development,” Nhan Dan Online said. 
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Though many North Korean refugees have lived outside of their former totalitarian homeland for only a few years, that isn’t stopping a growing number of them from participating in South Korea’s democracy.Just two months ahead of South Korea’s legislative election, a pair of North Korean defectors announced they will run for seats in parliament. Separately, a group of North Korean defectors is trying to form their own political party.A group of North Korean defectors attend the launching ceremony of their political party South-North Unification Party, ahead of the country’s general election in April, in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 18, 2020.The unprecedented attempt at political organization underscores the dissatisfaction felt by many defectors, who are among the poorest class in wealthy South Korea. Many feel discriminated against and not properly equipped to handle life in a capitalist country.“We’ve been treated as foreigners” in South Korea, said defector Ahn Chan-il, at an event this week announcing the launch of what is tentatively called the Inter-Korean Unification Party. “Now we have a central network to enhance our activities.”Though their status as a minority party likely means their political power will be limited, the developments indicate defectors are taking the initiative to improve their plight, said Casey Lartigue, who co-founded a group that helps North Korean refugees learn English.“Instead of waiting for South Koreans to speak on their behalf, they are seeking to do so themselves, unlike in North Korea, where they either never would have had a chance to form their own party or would have followed the regime’s party line,” Lartigue said.North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho speaks during an opening ceremony for an election campaign of the main opposition United Future Party in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 18, 2020.Plight of defectorsOne of the defectors running for a seat in the National Assembly is Ji Seong-ho, a former North Korean street beggar who lost an arm and a leg during what he says was an attempt to steal coal from a train. Ji fled to the South in 2006 and is now a human rights activist.“Not only am I a defector, I belong to the young generation and am also a disabled person living in Seoul. So I hope to do many things for Korea,” the 38-year-old said.Ji said he was motivated to run for office after South Korea forcibly returned two North Korean fishermen in November. Seoul accused the men of killing their captain and 15 other crewmen.But many defectors were outraged, saying the repatriation amounted to sending the men to almost certain death in North Korea, where they would not receive a fair trial.FILE – A girl and her North Korean defector mother hold portraits of a 42-year-old defector mother and her 6-year-old son who were found dead of starvation, during their funeral in Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 21, 2019.Many also point to a July incident in which a North Korean defector and her 6-year-old son were found dead in their tiny apartment in Seoul. By the time their bodies were found, they were so decomposed that authorities could not even determine a cause of death. Many suspect they starved to death — in one of the richest countries in the world.“Defectors should have entered politics a long time ago, maybe then such a miserable death … would not have happened,” said Eom Yeong-nam, who escaped North Korea in 2010.High-profile defectorThe other defector running for office is Thae Yong-ho, a former North Korean deputy ambassador to London, who fled to the South in 2016 with his two sons and wife.One the highest-profile North Korean defector in years, Thae has been highly critical of North Korea, which in return has labeled him “human scum.”More recently, though, Thae has also begun criticizing the South Korean government and its outreach to North Korea.Thae Yong Ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to Britain, speaks during a news conference, ahead of the country’s general election in April, in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 19, 2020.Speaking to a group of foreign journalists Wednesday in Seoul, Thae said some in South Korea are “trying to appease” the North by not bringing up its human rights abuses.“They are going back to the approach of economy first and human rights later…I believe that is very unjust,” Thae said.The 57-year-old has filled Seoul lecture halls, written a regular newspaper column, and is a sought-after voice for his insights into the North Korean diplomatic apparatus.If he wins in April, Thae would become the first North Korean defector to occupy a so-called “constituency seat” in South Korea’s parliament, which would give him more leverage and potentially allow him to be a long-term force in parliament.He would be doing so as a member of the main conservative party, potentially becoming a prominent voice among opposition forces, which are badly divided following the 2017 impeachment of conservative President Park Geun-hye.Politicized?But by formally joining Seoul’s conservative political ranks, defectors risk politicizing their message, said Hong Gang-chul, who left North Korea in 2014 and now has a YouTube channel that deals with North Korea-related politics.“I think the political participation of defectors is a positive thing, but right now the majority of that participation is one-sided. They demonize the North and make it a public enemy,” he said. “And that is a problem … it is necessary to have different defector voices.”Barely survivingMost defectors who flee North Korea, one of the world’s most oppressive countries, see the regime as their enemy and therefore oppose any engagement with the North.But in reality, many defectors living in the South do not have the time or money to become involved in politics, Hong said.“Those who are shown in the media fiercely protesting or rallying near the demilitarized zone, that is actually a very small group,” he said. “Many people barely even have enough money to survive. Some have never even voted at all.”Hong said he is one of the few defectors who support the ruling Democratic Party.Thae said the main reason he joined the conservative United Future Party is that it is the only political group that asked him to run.As he prepares to enter what can often be a messy, fractious world of South Korean democracy, Thae appears confident. And he says he hopes North Koreans are watching.“I want to show the North Korean people how freedom and democracy works in South Korea through me,” he said.
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Chinese health officials expressed new optimism Thursday over a deadly virus outbreak while authorities in South Korea’s fourth-largest city urged residents to hunker down as vacillating fears nagged communities far from the illness’ epicenter.The confidence voiced by China’s government came as it reported a reduced number of new infections. But doubts remained about the true trajectory of the epidemic as China again changed its method of counting and new threats emerged outside the country.“The downward trend will not be reversed,” insisted Ding Xiangyang, deputy chief secretary of the State Council and member of the Central Government’s supervision group.Whatever promises were aired where the illness poses its biggest threat, countries around the world continued to grapple with the rippling effects. The latest front in the widening global fight against COVID-19 emerged in Daegu, South Korea, where the city’s 2.5 million residents were urged to stay inside, wearing masks even indoors to stem further infection.Mayor Kwon Young-jin made a nationally televised appeal for those preventative measures, warning that a rash of new cases could overwhelm the health system. He pleaded for help from the country’s central government.Daegu and surrounding towns reported 35 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday.The flare-up came more than 1,400 kilometers (900 miles) from COVID-19’s epicenter across the Yellow Sea in China’s Hubei province and its capital of Wuhan, a sign of the risks the virus potentially posed to communities across the region and beyond.Though all but about 1,000 of more than 75,000 reported cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in China, scattered cases have erupted elsewhere.Iran on Thursday announced its first two deaths stemming from the virus, and South Korea reported its first fatality. And Japan said two former passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship had died of the illness, bringing the death toll there to three.The trajectory of the outbreak remained clouded by China’s zigzagging daily reports of new cases and shifting ways of tallying them.The number of new cases in China declined again Thursday, to 394, a notable shift from the 1,749 figure released a day earlier. Another 114 deaths in China were linked to the virus.But those statistics came after yet another change in how cases are counted.Last week, China’s National Health Commission said officials in Hubei would record new infections without waiting for laboratory test results, relying instead on doctors’ analyses and lung imaging. On Thursday, though, it returned to its prior way of counting, a decision sure to aggravate observers who say consistency is key to understanding COVID-19’s path.The health commission said it was reducing its count of infections by 279 after lab tests found they had wrongly been included in the tally.Cities in Hubei with a combined population of more than 60 million have been under lockdown since the Lunar New Year holiday. Authorities halted nearly all transportation and movement except for quarantine efforts, medical care, and delivery of food and basic necessities. “Wartime” measures were implemented in some places, with residents prevented from even leaving their apartments.The stringent moves have followed public fury over Hubei authorities’ handling of the outbreak at its outset. The risk of human-to-human transmission was played down and doctors who tried to warn the public were reprimanded by police. Wuhan residents reported overcrowding in hospitals and futile attempts to seek treatment.Many countries have also set up border screenings and airlines have canceled flights to and from China to prevent further spread of the disease, which has been detected in about two dozen countries. Nine deaths have been confirmed outside mainland China -in Japan, Hong Kong, France, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan. 
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Despite having only a few years’ experience living in a democratic country, an increasing number of North Korean defectors are becoming involved in South Korean politics. For the first time, two North Korean defectors are participating in South Korea’s legislative election, to be held in April. They hope to improve defectors’ status in South Korea and change how South Koreans think of the North.Around 200 North Korean defectors are meeting in Seoul — singing a folk song about the future unification of North and South Korea. They’re trying to form the first South Korean political party made up entirely of North Korean defectors.  Kang Chul-hwan is helping set up the party. He says no one represents the people of North Korea and that the approximately 35,000 defectors in South Korea are neglected.  They could start to get a small amount of political clout this April, when South Korea holds parliamentary elections. Two North Korean defectors are running as members of the conservative opposition.One of them is Ji Seong-ho, a former North Korean street beggar who lost an arm and a leg during what he says was an attempt to steal coal from a train. Ji fled to the South in 2006 and is now a human rights activist.  Ji says he belongs to the younger generation, and as a defector and a disabled person living in Seoul, he hopes to accomplish many things for Korea.  Ji says he was spurred to run for office after South Korea forcibly returned two North Korean fishermen in November. Seoul accused the men of killing their captain and 15 other crewmen but many defectors said the move amounted to sending the men to almost certain death in North Korea.FILE – Thae Yong-Ho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, holds up his smartphone during a press conference at the Seoul Foreign Correspondent Club in Seoul, Feb. 19, 2020.That incident also motivated Thae Yong-ho to enter politics. Thae, a former North Korean diplomat, is one of the highest profile defectors in years. He recently spoke to foreign journalists in Seoul.  “I want to show to the North Korean people how freedom and democracy works in this country, through me… so that is my purpose: to let them be educated,” he said.Since moving to the South in 2016, Thae has been highly critical of North Korea. More recently, though, Thae has also begun criticizing the South Korean government.  
 
Specifically, he wants better treatment of defectors, many of whom feel discriminated against and are among the poorest group in wealthy South Korea.Although all North Korean defectors go through a mandatory three-month training to learn how to live on their own in the capitalist South, many still fall through the cracks.  In July, a North Korean defector and her 6-year-old son were found dead in their apartment. apparently having starved to death.  Although the government said this week that average defector monthly income had reached an all-time high, for many it’s not enough.  Thae says he wants to make it easier for defectors to get educational scholarships.
“I want to give more opportunities to those newly arrived middle-aged people who want to continue their education,” he said. “Because I’m absolutely sure that one day Korea will be united. And if we are united again, who will go first to North Korea to do administration? It must be those people who are from North Korea.”Thae also accuses some in South Korea of “trying to appease” the North by not bringing up its human rights abuses.  Perhaps predictably, North Korea doesn’t think much of Thae. Since he left, North Korean state media gave him the label “human scum.”It’s also not clear just how much power Thae and other defectors will be able to amass in South Korea. Most of them have aligned themselves with conservatives, who are badly fractured after the 2017 impeachment of conservative President Park Geun-hye, and some analysts have warned that defectors now risk politicizing their message.
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A federal judge in Texas has dismissed Chinese tech giant Huawei’s lawsuit challenging a U.S. law that bars the government and its contractors from using Huawei equipment because of security concerns.The lawsuit, filed last March, sought to declare the law unconstitutional. Huawei argued the law singled out the company for punishment, denied it due process and amounted to a “death penalty.”But a court ruled Tuesday that the ban isn’t punitive and that the federal government has the right to take its business elsewhere.Huawei, China’s first global tech brand, is at the center of U.S.-Chinese tensions over technology competition and digital spying. The company has spent years trying to put to rest accusations that it facilitates Chinese spying and that it is controlled by the ruling Communist Party.The lawsuit was filed in Plano, Texas, the headquarters of Huawei’s U.S. operations. It was dismissed before going to trial. Experts had described Huawei’s challenge as a long shot, but said the company didn’t have many other options to challenge the law.Huawei said it was disappointed and will consider further legal options.The Trump administration has been aggressively lobbying Western allies to avoid Huawei’s equipment for next-generation, 5G cellular networks. Administration officials say Huawei can give the Chinese government backdoor access to data, allegations that the company rejects.U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also spoken out against Huawei, including during a talk with reporters in Brussels on Monday, turning U.S. opposition to Huawei into a bipartisan effort.
 
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Plagued by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, China’s inflationary pressure will continue to pick up this month after January’s consumer price index (CPI) expanded at its fastest pace in more than eight years, analysts say.That, they add, will weigh on the livelihood of the country’s hundreds of millions of migrant workers and the jobless rate as the outbreak continues to show no signs of easing.Latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that China’s CPI spiked to 5.4% in January, up from a 4.5% gain in December and its highest level since October 2011.  Within the index, pork prices jumped 116% while overall food prices increased 4.4% month-on-month, according to the bureau.Rising inflationThe rise of CPI last month was mainly due to pork prices (which have risen continuously the past six months as a result of the swine flu), increased demand for the Lunar Near Year and the coronavirus outbreak, according to the bureau.Analysts say the CPI spike isn’t a short-term phenomenon.FILE – People wearing masks shop at a supermarket on the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, following the outbreak of a new coronavirus, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Jan. 26, 2020.Looking ahead, extended city lockdowns and transport restrictions due to the virus outbreak have depressed domestic demand especially in the service sector, which will likely drive prices down, said Liao Qun, chief economist at China CITIC Bank International Ltd.But overall, surging pork prices, panic buying and delayed resumption of business operations to weaken supply will continue to push prices up if the outbreak isn’t effectively contained soon, he added.“The [coronavirus] outbreak will be a major factor in February to drive prices and the CPI up. The gain may be mild since the Lunar New Year buying has stopped this month. However, [the CPI] will remain at a high gear, at around the 5% level,” the economist said.  Migrant workers affectedConsumer price hikes will seriously hurt more than 200 million migrant workers in China, many of whom remain holed up at home while factories stay closed during the coronavirus outbreak, Liao said.  Zou Zhanhai, a migrant worker on an oil rig in Hebei province, further north of Beijing, said that he now lives on his savings and will cut back buying although prices of food he usually buys still remain stable.“I still stay at home. There’s no work to do. We can only restart work once the lockdown ban is lifted. I will get paid if I work. But no work, no pay. I, too, worry about getting sick if I return to work too early. Food prices remains stable since the government bans on price hikes,” Zou told VOA.   Zou said he hopes the outbreak can be contained as soon as possible to ensure steady incomes for him.The possibility that businesses may consider automation to cut back the workforce during times like this worries many migrant workers, especially those who live on daily pay.Worsening jobless rateChina CITIC Bank’s Liao express concerns that if the outbreak protracts for a long-than expected period of time, the survival of many businesses in China may be threatened.That will further worsen the nation’s jobless rate, he said.FILE – A security officer wearing a face mask stands in a shopping mall with a number of stores that remained closed in Beijing, Feb. 3, 2020.Wang Zhangcheng, head of the labor economics institute at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, agreed, saying that small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are particularly vulnerable.The longer SMEs remain shut, the bigger chance that they may be forced to close down permanently, which means permanent job losses, the professor said. 
“The SME sector has absorbed the most workforce [in China]. They have a relatively lower technical [skill] structure and limited resource to install automatic equipment to replace manpower. They may be forced to go bankrupt [if the outbreak persists]. So, the jobless rate is expected to go up,” Wang said.   Amid a slowing economy, China’s official urban unemployment rate slightly rose to 5.2% in December.Stimulus policiesDuring a State Council executive meeting, chaired by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday, China vowed to make efforts to keep employment and agricultural production stable.  FILE – Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wearing a mask and protective suit speaks to medical workers as he visits the Jinyintan hospital where patients of the new coronavirus are being treated, in Wuhan, Jan. 27, 2020.A series of policies will be rolled out, including temporary cuts on employees’ social insurance payments and deferred payments to their housing provident fund, the state-run China Daily reported. “In advancing both epidemic control and economic and social development, one pressing task is to stabilize employment. It is important to promptly introduce policies to bolster businesses, especially SMEs. Sound development of such businesses is vital to stable employment,” Li was quoted as saying.In provinces and municipalities other than Hubei, most SMEs would be eligible for the waiver before June while bigger companies will see them halved before April, the report added. 
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South Korea reported 15 new cases of the coronavirus Wednesday, intensifying concerns of an outbreak following a lull in reported South Korean infections.A total of 46 people in South Korea have been infected with the highly contagious virus, which causes a pneumonia-like illness recently named COVID-19. South Korean health officials this week warned of a possible “new phase” of the outbreak, following five days in which no new infections were reported.Thirteen of the latest cases are in the area around Daegu, South Korea’s fourth largest city, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).More than 1,000 people are being checked for the virus or are under quarantine, the Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday, citing figures from the KCDC. The virus has killed more than 2,000 people and infected more than 75,000 worldwide. Almost all of the infections have been in China.No South Koreans are reported to have died from the virus. Twelve of the patients have made full recoveries and were discharged from quarantine. But the virus could have a major impact on South Korea’s economy, which was already experiencing lagging growth.A woman wearing a face mask stands behind lanterns decorated for upcoming celebration of Buddha’s birthday on April 30, at Jogye temple in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020.Citing the virus scare, Moody’s Investor Service on Monday cut its forecast for South Korea’s economic growth in 2020 to 1.9% from 2.1%. Moody’s also said China is now expected to experience 5.2% growth in 2020 — down from an earlier estimate of 5.8%.Economic turmoil in China is acutely felt in South Korea, since Beijing is Seoul’s top trading partner. Some South Korean automakers, including Hyundai and Kia, were forced to temporarily halt or reduce production due to a shortage of parts from China, where many factories have closed.”China is the second largest economy in the world, and we are closely tied to the Chinese economy, so I believe that a sizable shock will be inevitable,” Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-beom said Tuesday, according to Yonhap.South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that the situation is “more serious than we thought,” adding that “emergency steps” are needed to contain the economic fallout.Moon, whose party faces a tough legislative election in April, is facing increased pressure to implement tighter virus prevention measures. 
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Australia is preparing to evacuate more than 200 of its citizens from the coronavirus-hit cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, in Yokohama, Japan.  They will face two weeks in isolation on their return home.   Also, the first group of Australian coronavirus evacuees from the Chinese city, Wuhan, has been released from quarantine. The Diamond Princess has been in quarantine since February 3. Onboard the cruise liner have been about 3,700 passengers and crew, including dozens of Australian tourists.The ship has more than 450 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus, including several Australians. It is the largest cluster of infections outside China, where the virus was first reported.Australian passengers must decide Tuesday if they will take up their government’s offer of an evacuation flight out of Japan.  Authorities in Canberra are planning to fly them home on Wednesday.  They will all go into isolation for 14 days, in addition to the time they have already spent confined on the Diamond Princess.  In a recorded message to passengers, Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, said such precautions were essential.“There is evidence of ongoing further infections in the ship, in the crew and in some passengers.  Even though we think some of you probably have been well quarantined there is uncertainty about whether some of you may be incubating the virus, and if you came back into the Australian community you may expose your family or other members of the community to this infection,” Murphy said.Two planes carrying hundreds of U.S. citizens from the cruise ship in Japan have arrived back home, and will face 14 days in isolation. However, some American travelers have refused to be evacuated, preferring to wait until the ship’s official quarantine comes to an end on February 19.The first group of Australian coronavirus evacuees from the coronavirus epicenter at Wuhan, China, has been released from quarantine Monday from Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.  More than 200 Australians were flown home, while other evacuees remain in isolation at a former miners’ camp near the city of Darwin.  There are currently 15 cases of the disease in Australia.  Health officials say eight patients are reported to have recovered, while the other seven are in a stable condition.
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